Before dying in cell, inmate with mental illnesses not cared for by jail staff: lawsuit

Updated November 28, 2017 at 6:14 PM;Posted November 28, 2017 at 5:32 PM

Colby Crawford, 23, was found dead by his cellmate inside the Orleans Justice Center jail Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017, according to the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office. The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office said he died of a cocaine overdose. (Photo courtesy of Crawford's family)

An Orleans Parish inmate diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses who told jail staff he was "hearing voices and seeing spirits" was moved last year from a psych ward to the jail's general population as a punishment for minor infractions, a lawsuit claims. Five months after the transfer, the suit says, deputies found 23-year-old inmate Colby Crawford dead in his cell after overdosing on cocaine that another inmate in the general population housing unit smuggled into the jail.

"Mr. Crawford's family hoped Colby would be kept safe while he was in custody. Sadly they were wrong," states a wrongful death lawsuit filed Monday (Nov. 27) in federal court against the Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman, the jail's compliance director Gary Maynard and others who work in or manage the Orleans Justice Center jail.

The suit, brought by Crawford's mother, Cellette Crawford, claims the jail staff failed to treat Crawford's mental illnesses, including diagnoses of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and drug use disorder; failed to properly staff the facility to ensure his safety; and failed to prevent illegal drugs from entering the jail in Mid-City. It claims the failure to protect Crawford's violated his constitutional and civil rights.

"These failures are the continuation of a pattern of unconstitutional patterns and practices at the Orleans Jail stretching back to at least 2008," states the lawsuit, submitted by the plaintiff's attorney, Stephen Haedicke.

A spokesman with the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office said in an email that the office's policy is not to comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit comes five years into a federal consent decree prompted by a class-action lawsuit that claimed conditions are the jail were unconstitutional. Crawford's death in February came about four months after inmates were moved into a new, $145 million jail facility. Maynard took over control of the jail in October 2016 from Gusman, who has remained sheriff, after U.S. District Judge Lance Africk found the sheriff's office failed to make adequate progress fixing problems at the jail. The appointment of Maynard, a veteran in the corrections field, avoided a total federal takeover of the facility.

Crawford died from the overdose Feb. 22. The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office booked Darrell Fuller, the inmate accused of smuggling in the cocaine, with second-degree murder related to the overdose death. The Orleans Parish District Attorney's office is prosecuting the charge, and Fuller has pleaded not guilty. Fuller's booking records say the jail's surveillance cameras captured several inmates snorting cocaine in the unit where Crawford was housed. The lawsuit claims the drug use went unnoticed by both guards who were supposed to be guarding the unit and deputies tasked with monitoring the live surveillance video.

Records show Crawford was booked into the jail the morning of May 3. He was formally charged later that month on counts of aggravated battery and domestic abuse with a dangerous weapon and third-offense domestic battery.

Court records show he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and his case was on hold while his competency to stand trial was evaluated.

The lawsuit claims that in the months before the fatal overdose, medical staff working for Correct Care Solutions, the company the sheriff's office contracts with the provide health care, noted that Crawford stopped taking his prescribed medicine as ordered and that his condition had deteriorated. The suit claims despite those observations, at least three different CCS employees, including a psychiatrist, failed to move Crawford back to the psychiatric unit at Elayn Hunt Correctional Center near Baton Rouge, despite his claims that he was experiencing delusions, had anxiety and could not sleep. The Orleans Parish Sheriff's office contracts with the state prison to house New Orleans inmates with the most serious mental illnesses after the Department of Justice and others found the Orleans Justice Center was not equipped to care for them.

The lawsuit provides a timeline of findings, dating back to 2008, made by the U.S. Department of Justice and National Institute of Corrections, notifying the sheriff's office that conditions there, especially with regard to care for inmates with mental health problems, failed to comply with constitutional standards.

"Despite their knowledge of these serious deficiencies, the defendants failed to make necessary changes," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit alludes to other inmate deaths that have occurred since the Justice Department raised red flags about conditions for inmates in New Orleans. Since the Orleans Justice Center opened in September 2016, eight inmates have died in OPSO custody or just after being released from custody upon being taken from the jail to a hospital.

The defendants "acted unreasonably, recklessly and with deliberate indifference and disregard for the constitutional and civil rights and life and serious medical needs of the deceased," the lawsuit states, and that their "actions and inactions... caused the wrongful death of Colby Crawford."

The following inmates have died since the new jail opened:

Evan Sullivan died Nov. 5 at a hospital "of apparent natural causes," after he was taken there from the jail. Narada Mealey, 32, died Nov. 2, of a medical problem the coroner said related to an ulcer. Jason Pierce, 40, died in July in a hospital after jail officials said he fell of his bed while suffering a seizure. Jermaine Johnson, 23, died in May in a hospital, 11 days after authorities say he hanged himself in his cell. Crawford died in February. Jaquin Thomas, 15, died in October 2016 after he was found hanging in his cell. Cleveland Tumblin, 61,died in March 2016 after hanging himself in a shower stall. Calvin Deal, also known as Calvin Thomas, died in November 2015 after a sickle-cell disease attack his family claims in a lawsuit was not properly treated.